


There Is A Light That Never Goes Out

by LichrallyJustVibin



Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Blood and Injury, Dead Danny Fenton, Family Bonding, Fluff, Full Ghost Danny Fenton, Gen, Identity Reveal, Is it really MCD if it's just danny and he just becomes a ghost?, Secret Identity, Swearing, danny dies
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-21
Updated: 2021-01-29
Packaged: 2021-03-13 07:21:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 14,968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28899567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LichrallyJustVibin/pseuds/LichrallyJustVibin
Summary: Danny never actually thought about whether or not he could die. His existence was always somewhat of an enigma; he just kind of thought of himself as— Schrödinger's ghost-human-hybrid, kind of. As much as it'd have been nice to know the hows and whys of his current biology, he just had no way to check.That is, until Danny finally got the chance. Because he fucking died.
Relationships: Danny Fenton & Jack Fenton & Maddie Fenton, Danny Fenton & Jazz Fenton, Danny Fenton & Tucker Foley & Sam Manson, Jack Fenton/Maddie Fenton
Comments: 52
Kudos: 158





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I really, really, REALLY love the "Danny is basically already dead" as well as the "Danny is practically immortal" headcanons, cuz "danny is just alive" sounds simply boring, BUT "Danny is alive and able to die (and he DOES)"? hoo boi okay, now that's an angsty scenario i can play around with
> 
> Also, the title comes from The Smiths' "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out" (fuck morrissey tho, obviously)

Danny never actually thought about whether or not he could die. His existence was always somewhat of an enigma so he hadn't even been sure whether he wasn't _already_ dead, and just — possesing his body or something like that. Sam and Jazz definitely rejected that theory, though, arguing that he still had a heartbeat and all of the other typically human bodily functions, so he couldn't be dead. Tucker joked about how Danny was technically a zombie now but didn't actually believe that. And yeah, fair enough. Danny just kind of thought of himself as— Schrödinger's ghost-human-hybrid, kind of. He was human, but he was also a ghost, which meant that he was also dead, except he was not, because he was an alive, still-functioning human being. Honestly, he just didn't want to ponder the dilema that his existence was for too long (or at all, really). So he mostly just ignored it and stopped trying to make sense out of it. It wasn't like it was actually that important. Sure, it'd have been nice to know the hows and whys but he just had no way to check the status of his aliveness.

That is, yet.

. . .

"Yes!" Tucker's voice was loud in Danny's headphones. "Another level of Doomed beaten thanks to the genius of _moi_."

Sam snorted. "You? I defeated, like, half of the enemies."

Danny registered a sound resembling a wounded squeak. "No way! I found most of the keys! Danny, come on, what's your verdict?" 

He laughed, clicking through the level settings on his computer. "Whoa! Keep me out of this, guys. I am staying _neutral_." Just as Danny'd said that, he shivered and looked down right in time to see his breath fogging. His face fell. _Oh no._

"Wow. You wound me, Danny. You wound me."

"Please, he just doesn't want to hurt your ego." 

"Oh, yeah? Maybe he doesn't want to hurt your—"

"Guys! Uh, we have a problem." Danny's shout seemed to stop both Tucker and Sam in their tracks.

"Ghost?" The stark difference between Sam's playful attitude from a few seconds earlier and her current seriousness would be shocking if it hadn't been their daily routine by now. Hunting ghosts; you know, just normal teen activities stuff. 

"Yeah."

"Okay, are we meeting somewhere? Should I take more than one PDA? Something specific?" 

"Nah, guys, you know what?" Danny stood up to stretch his back, careful as to not disconnect his headphones from the computer. "I think I'll take care of this one on my own. They don't feel too strong and I'm seriously _itching_ for some action today."

"You sure, Danny?" Sam sounded worried. "Because it's really okay if you need us there."

"Yup, don't worry, I'll take care of that real quick and be back soon." He laughed and let the familiar feeling of energy wash over him. Immediately, a white ring appeared around his abdomen, splitting in two and transforming him gradually. Once the rings went over his head and got to his toes, Danny _Phantom_ stood in the room, with Fenton nowhere in sight.

"If you say so, man. Just watch out."

"You know I will, guys. And we can play more Doomed after." Danny said, his voice echoing, and finally took off his headphones, setting them on his desk. He let the comforting sensation of intangibility encompass him, and surged through the window. 

Flying always felt amazing. It had felt amazing when Danny had first manifested the power (which had been almost right after the accident) and it still felt equally amazing. Many people, asked about which ghost power they'd want to have, would probably say something like "invisibility", or "ghost rays." Danny, however, wouldn't exchange flying for anything. The feeling of no gravity shackling your body, the freedom to just— lift off the ground and come as close to the sky as you can, the wind rustling your hair. It was incredible; one of the best feelings Danny had experienced in his entire life. 

Danny shook his head and stopped the train of thoughts. He couldn't be getting distracted at the moment, he had a ghost to catch. 

Thankfully, Danny's ghost sense had been getting a lot better and more precise lately. He was usually able to tell the approximate area the ghost was located in and, sometimes, he would even recognize which specific ghost he'd sensed.

This time it seemed to lead him to some kind of an old, abandoned factory, and he felt the strong presence of a ghost in his close proximity. 

_Bingo_.

Danny pulled on his invisibility and intangibility, and dived into the building. It was dark, and dirty. He landed on the ground, materializing, and his soles immediately left an imprint in the thick dust. He lit up a ball of ectoplasm, illuminating his surroundings. Gee, the place seemed like it hadn't been visited by anyone for _years_. 

He heard a clatter, suddenly. Danny's brows furrowed as he carefully extinguished the light and quietly flew over to the source of the sound. 

The room was illuminated by green light, coming off the busy ectopus in the corner. It was rummaging through the debris and all the left-over junk, seemingly lost in its own mind, when it straightened and froze, like a predator ready to attack. And then it launched.

Danny dodged the tentacle, missing the hit by merely a couple inches. It roared at him and ran for its life, sinking through the floor. 

"Oh, no, you don't," Danny said. "Don't even think about it."

He flew after it, landing in some kind of an old storeroom, and blasted one of its tentacles with a ghost ray. It hissed, moving its limbs around hectically, and threw a carton box right off the shelf at Danny. 

He managed to go intangible at just the right moment and fired another blast. "Aw, come on! Why so snappy?" He slowly reached for the thermos on his back. The ectopus roared and surged at Danny again, resulting in him yelping and falling over one of the boxes on the floor. The ghost was coming to get him when, suddenly, it was being pulled by foreign gravity, unable to escape. Danny smirked as the ectopus was thrashing around, caught in the Fenton thermos' beam, and finally got sucked inside. "Aaand I win. Thank you so much, a very pleasant evening!" He laughed, putting the lid on. 

Having put the thermos back on his back, he dusted himself off and rose into the air. His job here was done, in such a quick time, too. Satisfying. 

He breathed in the fresh air once he'd left the musty factory building. Winter was almost coming to an end so it was still pleasantly cool (especially for his ice core) yet things were already springing back to life. He closed his eyes and listened, basking in the feeling of cold breeze gusting his face. In this empty area of town, he just heard tranquil swishing of the wind, rattling of tree branches, crickets singing, and— Cars? Lots of incoming cars. And voices. Shoot.

Danny opened his eyes in confusion. As if on cue, there really were big trucks coming his way. _GiW trucks_. Okay, he had to get out of there as fast as possible or he would be _screwed_. 

He was readying himself for a fast flight when a laser gun missed him by an inch. He spluttered. _That was close_.

"Now, do it now while we still have him!" 

Danny turned his head in the direction of the voice. _Wh—_

"Danny Phantom! As a paranormal entity of level eight, you have hereby been declared an enemy of the humankind, and you're under arrest. Do not resist the capture or you will risk getting eliminated. If you do not cooperate, we will—" 

_Ugh_ , please. "Cool, I don't care! Bye!" 

He quickly surged in the sky towards the direction of his house when— _Ow_. Danny felt pain and electricity as his body collided with an invisible shield. He rubbed his head, carefully reaching out with his hand and— Yeah. A ghost shield. 

He cursed under his breath. He could easily get through it if only he could somehow get out of the agents' sight and transform. He examined his surroundings further and— Yup, he could also disable the shield, as its main points were located on their vehicles and on metallic rods protruding from the ground, each protected by an agent.

Danny put up a fortified sphere made of ectoplasm around him, just a mere-second before anti-ghost missiles hit it with full force. 

Okay, he was _glad_ that he was much more powerful than when he'd first encountered the GiW. Although, well, the ones hunting him had usually been just the same two agents with little to no equipment. But _this_? This was a whole new level.

They were _still_ shooting at him, with no moments to rest. Danny went invisible and, having gotten rid of his own shield, he dove down quickly. He took the closest main point as his target, then aimed at it and— _Again_ , a bunch of lasers and bullets nearly hit him, Danny shapeshifting his torso just in time to dodge. 

Now, how the _hell_ did they know where he was?!

Scanners, that was how.

Danny cursed and popped back up into the visible spectrum. Invisibility was of no use if they could've seen him anyway; using it would've been just a waste of energy. 

Dodging the projectiles, he shot out a big ball of ectoplasm, aiming at the closest metallic rod again, and _bingo!_ It shattered with a blast. 

He laughed. _Bye, agents!_

As he tried to fly away, though, he got stopped by an invisible yet solid force once _again_. He groaned. One rod wasn't enough then; he had to break more.

Danny put up a protective shield around himself and surged down, eyebrows furrowed in anger. He was so fuckin' _done_ , he just wanted to go home. He flew in the direction of another metallic rod, located on one of the vehicles this time.

That was it.

Missiles and lasers were bouncing off the ectoplasmic sphere that was outstretched around him. Danny exhaled in concentration and, right when some of the agents had to stop shooting to reload their guns, he let go off his shield, and aimed.

The next things all happened super fast.

An ectoblast fired from Danny's hand, destroying the target with a loud crash, and simultaneously a sudden sharp, stinging pain hit his upper abdomen with full force. Danny recoiled, stumbling back. _Oof_. In the corner of his eye, he saw that the metal rod was now destroyed which meant that he could finally escape. But, _ow_ , okay, he had to— just lay down for a moment. There was no way he could've outflown the GiW while in the pain, after most likely getting shot with God knows what.

Disappearing from the visible spectrum, Danny sunk through the roof of the factory, as deep as he could go. To the basement. He could immediately hear shouting of the agents, and a man's orders to follow and find him. He landed on the floor, swaying a bit, and instinctively grabbed the aching spot on his chest with a hiss. His hand came back green, stained with ectoplasm. Danny's breath shuddered.

It was all right, he'd been shot many, many times, and he'd always healed. This was nothing to worry about. It was _all right_.

Danny inspected the wound quickly, before the Guys in White could storm in. It was deep, and oozing with all sorts of liquids from his body. And it hurt, well, like a _bitch_. Upon further inspection Danny realized something more and he froze. It wasn't a laser wound; there was an actual bullet inside of him and it _couldn't phase out of him_. He tried again, pulling on his intangibility, to no luck. The bullet just laid there, surrounded by his ribcage, and wouldn't budge even an inch. It seemed to... be filled with something, too. Something that was awing his ghost half, very uncomfortably.

Upon hearing footsteps, Danny's head shot up. He immediately transformed into his human form and disappeared into thin air. The agents came in then, visibly frowning.

"Something is not right," one of the Guys in White said. "The scanners were just picking up an eco-signature, right here! And now it just disappeared."

Danny could hear his heart pounding fast in his ears. He forced his heavy breaths to even out and pressed on the wound with his hands, trying to stop at least some of the bleeding.

The agents started rummaging through the room, looking behind empty cartons and various junk piles. Danny stood still, and invisible, in the very middle of the room, trying to be as quiet as possible.

 _Just wait it out. Just wait it out_.

His eyes widened in panic as an agent almost came right through him but Danny managed to dodge, his feet shuffling quietly on the floor. The wait seemed exhaustingly long. He had to withstand it, though, pushing the feeling of more and more of the cold fluid staining his shirt to the back of his mind. He was starting to get light-headed. God, it hurt so much. He wasn't sure how much more time had to pass until he wasn't able to hold onto his invisibility anymore.

One of the agents, wearing a blindingly white suit, sighed loudly. "Fine. Everyone, pack it up!" He put down a gun, strapping it onto his back. "Phantom's gone. Not sure how that ghost entity got away but mission's over for now. Let's go." Then, he came out of the room at once, and all the other agents followed in his footsteps through the door.

One more moment of waiting later, the distant sound of engines could be heard and Danny finally felt like he could let his guard down. Popping back into visibility, his previous adrenaline crushed, and he almost collapsed under all the exhaustion and pain.

Danny gritted his teeth, and slowly shuffled closer to the wall, leaning his body onto it so as not to lose balance. He felt another sharp stab of pain in his chest and couldn't hold himself anymore. Having slid down the wall, he half-sat on the basement floor.

Panting heavily, he finally looked down at his wound again and, sure enough, it was flooding out mostly red now, some green speckles of ectoplasm mixed in. That was to be expected at least, as he was in his human form, but much more gruesome to see.

He felt his eyes close.

_No! What the hell, Fenton?!_

They snapped open. Right, he was bleeding out on the floor of a basement of an old, musty factory and he had an anti-ghost-technology bullet, one that he couldn't phase out no matter how hard he tried, inside of his organs. The situation was not good.

His breath hitching, Danny brought up his hand to his wound again, trying to stop the bleeding. To no avail. His weird mutated blood was flowing out inbetween his fingers, steadily as a brook.

He cursed. He wasn't going to heal as long as there was that thing inside of him. He had to get it out.

Carefully, Danny made his hand intangible, and tried to, just slightly, reach inside—

Suddenly, there was even more pain. So much piercing, burning, excruciating pain. His hand flew back to the floor immediately. Danny would have screamed if he'd had any energy left in him but he was so, so tired. He just wanted the sharp pain to stop, he wanted a break, goddammit. _Please, just a small break_. His breath shuddered as he let his eyes close.

He was met with total darkness, numbness; and subsequently, relief. Instantly, he felt no more pain, as if all of his existing injuries had been healed and his exhaustion taken away. It felt... blissful, in some way. It felt really nice, shockingly nice. Time seemed to slow down, the heavenly peacefulness calming him down, lulling him to eternal sleep.

Danny's eyes snapped open. His back arched and he immediately surged upwards. Apparently the bliss had been short-lived cuz he felt like he was going to be sick now. He ran his hand through his hair. Something felt wrong. Not his chest, though; it felt actually better, surprisingly. Something definitely felt—

Hang on.

Gloves. His hands were gloved.

Now, he didn't remember transforming back into Phantom. He definitely hadn't done that, not on purpose at least, and this happening accidentally while he was in such a bad condition was very, very unlikely. 

His eyes glanced at his legs, as if instinctively, and— 

"Fuck."

Jeans. There were jeans, and red sneakers, and most likely someone's legs inside of them. Except, they weren't _his_ legs. His legs were right here; attached to him, moving– shaking, rather– covered up by the familiar black latex and white boots. The legs underneath him, the ones not moving, the ones wearing _his_ clothes, though— Oh, no.

Oh, no, no no.

No no no no no. No way. Nuh-uh.

Danny felt his whole body quivering. He leaned on his hands and, swaying, managed to stand up. He didn't want to look, he really did not want to look. Hey, maybe if he never looked his worries would go away! He couldn't have a problem if he didn't even know what the problem _was_ , right? Right?

Danny looked.

Oh, how he wished he hadn't looked.

Right there, resting a feet away, leaning against the wall, was _he_ , himself. His human form. His— body.

" _Fuck_." 

He swallowed (oh, he could still do that? Cool. _Don't think about it, don't think about it now_ ). His (his body's? Its?) whole abdomen was covered in red blood, now already darkening, mixed in with spots of glowing, bright green ectoplasm. At least the eyes were closed. He couldn't imagine how much more traumatizing it'd have been if he'd given up his ghost (ha, his ghost. That was him now) and left his eyes open while doing so. Gruesome, truly.

In summary, Danny was fucked. And very, very dead on top of that, apparently. Shit fuck. 

_Well? Do something, Fenton_.

His breath trembled (why was he breathing? _You're dead. You do not need to do that_ ) as he reached into his corpse's back pocket and successfully fished out his phone.

He pressed "call" and waited.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> An update!
> 
> wanted to wait at least a few days before updating first but turns out i wasn't patient enough so you get it today xsjksk
> 
> Again, all comments are super welcome and all feedback is appreciated! Thank you for reading, hope you enjoy!

"Hello?"

"Jazz!" Danny struggled to keep his voice from wavering.

"Danny? What's going on?"

He laughed nervously. How was he going to even approach this? _Hey, Jazz, guess what! You're an only child now!_ "Well, you know, not much. Nothing too special. Just, uh—" _I died, kind of_. "Just wondering, think you can check if the ghost barrier is off?"

"Wh— Yeah, of course but, Danny, why?" Her voice sounded cautious now. Not good. "Are you okay?" 

"Me? Oh, just peachy." He smiled widely, and laughed again. "Not one scratch on myself." His _body_ , however—

There was a pause, and some rummaging on the other end of the phone call. "Are you sure? You don't sound okay."

"Yeah— Yeah, I'm just— Uh—" His voice went involuntarily high at that moment. That was not good. He sighed and rubbed at his forehead. Oh, he was so tired. Mentally, at least. "I'll explain everything later, okay? For now just— the barrier?"

Could he hide this? No. Was he going to procrastinate telling his sister that he had died anyway? _You bet_. 

This time Jazz sighed. "You got it, little brother. But don't think I'll let it slide. You are telling me everything that's bothering you sooner or later, alright?"

"Ha! Don't think I have the choice."

"What? Why? What do you—"

"Oh, not much! Bye, thanks, bye!" Danny shot out in panic and hung up. _Phew_.

Now, how was he going to break news to Sam and Tucker?

He looked at his corpse, resting by the wall, and dialed another number.

"Hey, Danny, 'sup?"

"Tuckeeeer, heeeey. Hey, uh—" He rubbed the back of his neck.

"What's goin' on? How's the ghost?"

The ghost? Oh. Right. He'd come here to take care of a ghost.

"Oh, uh, all taken care of. It was just an ectopus, I've got 'em in my thermos. So, yeah." Jeez, he was _struggling_. "Listen, meet me at my place in ten, okay?"

"Your place?" Tucker sounded incredulous. "It's nine PM, why? What happened?"

"Well— I'll explain later, just— please be there. Jazz will let you in, just tell her I called you."

"Sounds good, okay, yeah. Will be there soon."

Danny exhaled (again, _why are you even breathing? Stop_ ) and smiled. He was extremely lucky he had friends he could depend on anytime and anywhere. "Thanks, Tuck."

He repeated this conversation again, with Sam, and finally looked at his dead body once again. Shoot, he couldn't just leave it there for everyone to see, at a place where a recent ghost fight had occured, with injuries that had been inflicted on Phantom, right? That probably wouldn't have been wise, no. 

He mustered up the courage and— picked up his corpse. He adjusted his grip and resisted the urge to drop it and get as far away from it as possible. His dead body was uncomfortably cold to touch, even more so than when he'd been still partially alive; and it was sorta clammy already, too. Gross.

 _Think of it as an object. Think of it as a piece of meat. Do not think of it as yourself_.

He let the feeling of intangibility embrace him (and everything he was holding), and stepped through the wall. Having somehow freed up one of his hands, he lit up a ball of ectoplasm to see what he was working with. 

The space inbetween the brick walls was— rather claustrophobic, to put it lightly, but he supposed his deceased body would easily fit in the free room. It wasn't like it was going to be uncomfortable or something like that. 

He felt his metaphorical stomach clench again. If he hadn't been dead, he'd have definitely thrown up. _Stop it. It's just meat. It's not you anymore, it's not—_

He carefully placed his corpse in the best possible position and stepped out, back into the basement room. He'd come back and take his body somewhere else later, probably. But this had to do for now.

Looking back at everything around him, he finally took his phone and the thermos, and fled the scene. 

. . .

Danny was finally nearing his house. He could see that the lights were on in his bedroom, which meant that at least one of his friends were already there. He felt his core buzz high with energy. He guessed that was probably the equivalent of a heart clenching, for when you don't actually have a heart, or a heartbeat, anymore. _Okay, let's do this._

He pulled on the sensation of intangibility again, and flew inside through his bedroom window. 

He immediately noticed Tucker sitting by his desk and Sam leaning down on his bed, looking as if they had just been conversing about something. They, in turn, also immediately noticed him, and looked up with wide eyes.

"Hi, guys," he said, putting his phone and thermos on his night stand.

"Danny!" Sam and Tucker both yelled out. Sam instantly shot up from her semi-relaxed position, fully sitting up now. 

"We've been worried sick, dude. First you say that you caught a ghost easy-peasy, but then you ask us to meet you in your house ASAP. What the hell?" Tucker said.

"So, what happened? Spill. Now." It was amazing how Sam could sound worried yet incredibly threatening at once. There was also this— foreign cautiousness, or concentration, on her face as she was looking him over.

Danny laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his neck. "Right, uh— So I said I'd beaten the ghost easily and fast and all that, right?"

Sam and Tucker nodded.

"Well, I did. But, uh—" Danny sat down on his bed, in a free spot, and leaned down onto his knees. "The GiW came." He ignored how his friends' eyes widened. "And they were kinda— well-armed, and there were lots of them and, uh— Well, I got shot, I guess." Again, he ignored how their panicked eyes immediately flew to search his body for injuries. "I'm— I'm not hurt, though. Not anymore. Well, in some way, I'd say— I'm okay. But—" He sighed. That was a lot harder than he'd thought it would be.

"Danny. What are you saying?" Sam frowned.

He swallowed and looked each one of his friends in the eyes, and smiled nervously. "Well, you can say I— went ghost." He laughed. Then his face fell. "Permanently."

Silence. Just silence. Some very uncomfortable silence.

"What?!"

"Danny, please tell me you are not saying what I think you're saying." Tucker's hand was very slightly shaking as he adjusted his glasses.

Danny just sat there. Oh, he was definitely saying that. Or more like: he wanted to, but he just couldn't get it out of himself. Couldn't confess. It felt like that'd make it too real, actually real. _Okay, little steps._

"Danny. What are you saying?!" Sam sounded mad.

He laughed again, like the morbid idiot that he was. "What do you guys think?" 

Sam and Tucker exchanged panicked glances, and looked back at Danny. 

"You _went ghost permanently_? That— But that'd mean, but it can't, but holy shit. Danny." At some point during Sam's speech, her angry tone of voice morphed into a rather scared one instead, or sad, even. Danny officially felt awful already.

"Danny, my man, please tell me you're not dead." There it was; the d-word. Tucker looked at him expectantly.

"Well—" Danny clasped his hands together. "I could do that but I _would_ be lying."

. . .

Danny was pretty sure that if someone were to take a knife out and slice the air with it, they'd successfully cut off an impressive amount of the tension that was present at the moment.

"Fuck," Tucker finally broke the silence.

"Yup." 

"Shit," Sam cursed and shifted closer to where he was sitting on the bed.

"Mhm."

She sighed and offered her hand, palm up. "Give me your wrist." 

"My... wrist?" Danny eyed Sam's hand with skepticism but complied. He watched as she pulled up his glove (thank god that was still possible. He probably wouldn't have felt too good about being stuck in his jumpsuit for the rest of eternity) and brought two fingers to where his veins were supposed to be. Her skin felt way too warm compared to his. "Uh, yeah, I've got no pulse, pretty sure. It's not like I have a heart anymore, so— Yeah."

"Come on, maybe—" Her brows furrowed and she was pressing harder into his skin, desperate to feel any rhythm underneath her fingers.

Danny pulled away at once and stood up. "Guys, please, I'm okay. Don't— Don't worry." He looked at Sam and Tucker, who looked, in fact, very worried. He laughed nervously. "I was already half-way there, right? Today the GiW just kind of... finished the job for me. No biggie."

"No biggie, he said. Damn," Tucker mocked him. 

"You can't seriously expect us to believe your bullshit, Danny." Sam crossed her arms. "For someone with a secret identity, you fucking suck at lying."

Did he? Suck at lying? He supposed he did. Leave it to his best friends to see right through his fake calm demeanor, right?

"Well, what do you want me to say?!" He threw his arms out and rose in the air slightly. "That I literally died, had to temporarily bury my corpse somewhere, and have no idea what the fuck to do now? Well, I might! I might say that."

He exhaled rapidly (and unnecessarily). "I know you guys care about me and stuff, and I— I do appreciate it. But also I think I just— Ugh!" _Why_ was he so bad at this? "I think I need to, sort of, get my shit together now. Just pretend everything is okay for a moment, get some sense of normalcy. Ignore all that as long as I can. You know?" 

Sam looked at Tucker and there seemed to be some voiceless understanding forming inbetween them. "Fine."

"Wait, really?" He did not think they were actually going to just let it go for now, that was surprising. "Thanks, guys!" Having said that, Danny flopped face-down onto his bed and rolled over to a more comfortable position. Following in his footsteps, Sam also relaxed and lied down on her back, and Tucker sat down on the floor, leaning back on the bed. 

Danny closed his eyes and sighed. Well, that was an eventful evening. Way more eventful than he'd thought it would be. He snorted to himself. It was funny how the most ordinary days could become life-changing in the span of a few minutes. For instance, that time he had simply wanted to show Sam and Tucker his parents' dysfunctional 'ghost' portal, just for laughs. Obviously he hadn't thought it was going to work. A portal to an alternate dimension where ghosts were supposed to live? _Right_ , as if. But then he had done a very stupid thing; he'd gone inside, electrocuted himself, changed his literal DNA, and had become a half-human/half-ghost _hybrid_. And he had started manifesting all these weird ghost powers and, if _that_ wasn't enough, he'd decided to become a superhero, too! Sure. Why not? 

Danny burst out laughing. Holy shit, his life was a literal _trainwreck_. Nothing in his existence was in any way normal and, for some reason, it seemed absolutely hilarious at the moment. 

"Uh, Danny? You good?" Tucker, once again, sounded concerned.

"Yeah, it's all just—" Danny tried to choke out the words inbetween his laughs. "—so damn _absurd_." 

"What's absurd?" Sam asked, confused. They probably thought he was going crazy, or having a breakdown or something. Shit, maybe he was.

"Everything!" Danny yelled out, throwing his arms out. He finally managed to control his fit a little, loud laughter dying down into occasional snickers. "I mean, half-dying in an interdimensional portal? Becoming a local ghost superhero? Fully dying, just being— dead right now?! Holy shit!" He snorted. "I mean, what's the chance, right?"

At that Danny heard two snickers, which brought him an odd sense of comfort. He smiled. If his friends were willing to laugh with him about that, then they really _could_ be normal again. That meant that everything was going to be okay. 

"Yeah, it really is weird," Sam said, and laughed. 

"Your whole life is absolutely fucking weird, Danny," Tucker chuckled. 

Danny tilted his head to look at him and smirked. "I think you meant: my life _was_ absolutely fucking weird. I'm dead now," he joked and decided to ignore the slight twitch of hurt on Tucker's face before it had gotten covered up by a chuckle. Oops, right, small steps. No jokes about his sudden demise yet. He tilted his head back and fixed his gaze on the glow-in-the-dark stars he'd attached to his ceiling as a kid. He'd never taken them off.

"Danny, by the way, have you, um—" Sam hesitated. He looked up at her expectantly, having rotated his body to lay down on his stomach instead. 

"Hm?"

"Have you seen yourself in the mirror?" She seemed careful in her wording.

"Huh? In the—" Danny's metaphorical stomach dropped. " _Oh_. Do I— Do I look weird?" He instinctively lifted off into the air, and was now floating a few feet above the bed. Shoot, he totally forgot full ghosts often looked less human than he had; he hadn't even _thought_ about it. 

"No! No, actually, I hadn't even noticed, honestly." She glanced at Tucker, who nodded in affirmation, and then back at Danny. "Now, just— I'd say you look just slightly different." She tapped her earlobe, which made him touch his self-consciously.

"Yeah, man, it's not really noticeable. All very subtle," Tucker said.

"Yeah! Not in a bad way, either."

Danny sighed and flew towards the door, stopped suddenly, spun around— "Be back in a minute." —and disappeared inside the wall.

. . .

He landed on the bathroom floor, his boots clicking quietly, and leaned down on the sink. The moment, ironically, kind of reminded him of when he had first seen his ghost form in the mirror. He had just woken up, in pain and confused from his accident, and had started, to put it lightly, freaking out. He'd looked at his purely white hair and glowing green eyes and hadn't recognized himself at all.

Now, as he was gazing into his reflection, it felt familiar. Thankfully, Sam and Tucker had been right cuz there really were no easily noticeable changes to his appearance. Not at first glance, at least. 

Danny traced the edge of his right earlobe. His ears were— pointy. Huh. 

The other thing, to be expected, was that his skin had taken this... specific green undertone. But, again, that wasn't surprising because, after all, he didn't have any blood in his system anymore; just ectoplasm. The color still looked very human-passing, though, fortunately.

He sighed and then instantly slapped a hand over his mouth, having noticed something else. Leaning over the sink, he slowly took his hand away and, sure enough, there were _fangs_. He ran his tongue over his teeth. Now, how the hell did he miss that? They were _sharp_.

Looking himself all over once again, Danny felt satisfied with his inspection. Surprisingly, he didn't feel bad about the changes at all. They were acceptable. The only problem was his lack of human form, which— well, he needed. 

Quietly, he flew back into his room and felt the eyes of his friends on himself as soon as he'd lost invisibility. They were looking at him expectantly.

"Well, I guess— You were right." He landed on the ground, hands on hips. "My ghost form looks basically the same, so that's good. The only problem, really, is that it's my only form now. But yeah, I mean— Vlad has pointy ears and fangs, and blue skin, for some reason, and he's alive so who knows?" He scratched his head. "Maybe the specific ghost characteristics would grow in eventually even if I hadn't died?"

"Hang on a sec, rewind, rewind," Sam said. "Fangs?" She stood up and walked over towards Danny's spot.

He grinned widely, showing off his teeth.

" _Okay_ , damn. That's cool as fuck. Now I'm jealous."

He laughed and smirked. "Jealous of a dead guy, huh?"

Sam startled visibly. "I didn't mean—"

"Oh, no, no, Sam, I'm— I'm joking. Don't worry." He supposed his death jokes were synonymous to walking on eggshells for now. "I might—"

There was a knock on the door and Danny's core jumped in his chest. "Danny? May I come in?" Okay, _oof_ , that was Jazz. He'd been ready to flee right there right then had it been his parents.

"Uh— Yeah, sure." Danny exchanged glances with his friends as Jazz let herself in. 

"Just wanted to let you know mom's— Why are you in your ghost mode?" Jazz stopped abruptly, confused, and pointed at him. "Is there a ghost? Oh, do you guys need help?" 

Danny suddenly felt really exposed standing in the middle of his room. He rubbed the back of his neck. "Right, about that—" Was that the right moment to confess? He had to do it that night anyway, he didn't even have a choice. "Folks are gonna know."

He'd been avoiding thinking about it but, after all, it was unavoidable. He had no human form anymore so there was no Danny Fenton, son of Maddie and Jack Fenton, just _Danny Phantom_ , the despised ghost boy they'd been hunting for years. He had no way to even prove he was himself anymore, and he couldn't just talk to them in a civilized way as _Phantom_. But he had to tell them because— well, for one, he had school on the next day, and if he didn't tell them, they wouldn't even know what the heck had happened to their son. But how the hell was he going to do that? Were they going to accept him? Or, at least, believe him? Well, simply no idea. 

"What do you mean? You're telling them?"

"Yup."

"Why tonight?" 

Danny laughed. "Well, I don't really, uh— Have a human form anymore?" 

Jazz's eyes widened. "What does that mean? You were separated from it or something?"

"Ha! No, I died." A milisecond after saying that, Danny's single ectoplasmic braincell realized that probably wasn't the most delicate way to break the news. Oops.

Jazz's eyes widened even _more_. "You _died_?!" She pointed an accusing finger at Sam and Tucker respectively. "Is this a prank? Because if it is, it really isn't funny and I will be mad." She looked back at Danny. "But also I truly hope it is."

Danny's lips pressed into a thin line. "Mmm, no prank. Nope. I am _deadly_ serious." 

Sam and Tucker snorted but Jazz just blinked a few times, processing the information. "Gosh, Danny, how did this happen? How are you feeling?" She'd completely missed the pun. Absolutely criminal.

"Uh, I— I feel good. You know, just... got shot by GiW, bled out, uh, _died_ — Formalities, really—" He did some jazz hands for the effect. "And here I am!"

She was making a sour face; definitely didn't believe him then. "That really doesn't sound like you're good but I suppose you need some time to process all of that." Danny rolled his eyes dramatically. _Here we go_. "After all, talking about feelings, especially after such a traumatic experience, is really hard. Just remember not to give in to bad coping mechanisms, and if you ever need to talk, about anything, I'm here." She smiled and squeezed his shoulder reassuringly. 

He returned a quick smile. So maybe he actually _did_ want to ignore talking about his feelings for now, but it wasn't like he was just gonna _admit it_ to his sister. He quickly went for a change of subject. "Right, uh— So, I have no idea how to break the news to mom and dad. I mean," he gestured at himself, "this isn't really a good conversation material." 

Jazz paled. "Oh. Right." She tapped her chin in thoughtfulness. "They would definitely not be willing to listen if Danny Phantom just came up to them and told them he was their son."

He snorted. "Yeah, no fuckin' way."

"Language, Danny. So, we need to somehow... ease them into it before you show yourself to them." She snapped her fingers triumphantly. "Make them believe it."

Tucker came up to Danny and poked his jumpsuit, chuckling. "Maybe we just gotta get you outta this thing and into some normal clothes."

Sam snorted. "What, you think if Danny wears a t-shirt and some jeans, they suddenly won't recognize he's a ghost? I mean, I know they're hella oblivious but _man_."

Danny also laughed, imagining himself (glowing all over, with white hair and green eyes) just sitting at the dinner table and his parents still noticing _nothing_. The absurdity of it all would be just so massive, he'd conclude they had always known he was Phantom and had been just waiting for him to tell them. 

"Actually," Jazz began, and the laughter immediately stopped, "that's not a bad idea."

 _What?_ "Jazz, please, you gotta give them _some_ credit," Danny snickered.

"No, no, I mean— Once they believe us and we'll bring you out, it'll actually be super helpful if you wear casual clothes. The jumpsuit is Phantom's signature outfit, and it just feels so," she did a weird motion with her hands, "superheroey and formal. For them, there's this negative connotation to it. _However_ , if they saw you in something casual, that'd help them associate you with, well, _you_. Your dorky teenager self and all that." 

_Huh_. Danny made eye contact with Tucker and Sam. 

"Yeah, that makes sense," Sam admitted with a shrug. 

"We can try," Danny said. After all, there was no harm in trying and he'd feel more comfortable confronting them like that, too. 

"So, what exactly are we going to tell them?"


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> An update! Here we go!
> 
> managed to wait whole 2 days to update so that's progress lmao gotta stop doing that before i run out of pre-written chapters tho

They went over the whole plan at least a few times, making sure not to leave anything important out but also to let Danny say the most personal stuff. 

He looked at the clock; it was nearly ten PM, and in a few minutes his whole existence could change. Again. His parents could accept him, or— disown him, basically, and proceed to hunt him in order to tear him apart molecule by molecule. Danny felt like he was going to be sick, or would've been if he were still alive. 

"Okay, be back in a moment," he said, and disappeared inside the wall with the outfit he'd picked out.

Once again, Danny landed on the bathroom floor, setting the prepared clothes on a nearby stool. He unzipped and took off his HAZMAT suit as fast as he could. Surprisingly, it remained weirdly solid; like a normal piece of clothing, just— glowing. He'd thought it would've melted into ectoplasm once in his grasp, or that he wouldn't have been able to even take it all off. Thankfully, he'd been wrong. 

He sighed and started dressing himself. He'd chosen a simple pair of jeans, a little worn out at the knees and frayed at the edges but still almost good as new; a black t-shirt with a NASA print, and red sneakers (a new pair because his old ones were still, well, on his corpse's feet). He also threw on a flannel shirt. Honestly, the more of himself he could cover up, the better. 

He floated upwards to see more of himself in the mirror and _whoa_. Okay, being in his ghost form and wearing everyday clothes was officially _super_ weird. He looked— well, not _normal_. He was still glowing and all, but he looked so casual, and actually like himself— his human self. That was sorta freaky, even. He supposed Jazz was right, if mom and dad were going to recognize him and see him for who he really was, it was in this outfit. 

He floated down and, having picked up the discarded jumpsuit, gloves and boots, flew back into his bedroom. 

He was met with silence and wide eyes.

"Holy shit," Tucker said. "Now, this is _trippy_."

Danny laughed. "I know, right?" He spun around in the air. "Never thought I could look so— _me_ as Phantom."

Sam snorted. "Danny, you _are_ Phantom." 

"Still," he mumbled, "you get my point."

At that moment, he felt a warm hand on his shoulder, and turned his head to see Jazz smiling at him softly. "You ready to do this, little bro?" 

He sighed. "Better to get this over with, right?" 

She nodded. "Then let's do this." 

It was time to act accordingly to plan. Danny gave the rest of the group a pair of thumbs up and disappeared into thin air with help of invisibility. 

Jazz went out first, Sam and Tucker trudging right behind her. Danny felt himself shaking from nervousness. That was it. After nearly three years of hiding and lying, his ghost-hunting parents were going to know he was a ghost. His ghost-hunting, _scientist_ parents with a lab in the basement; a lab full of anti-intagibility cages, full of cold metal tables, empty sample containers, scalpels, scissors, knives, forceps, other... sharp objects. Shit. 

"Mom, dad, I— We have something to tell you," Jazz said, coming down the stairs. Danny was silently levitating right behind her, ready to show himself when/if the right time came. 

Mom was tinkering with something at the kitchen table but stood up when Jazz's voice brought her attention. She walked over to where Jazz and Danny's two friends were standing. "What's the matter, sweetie?" She sounded caring, yet concerned.

"It's about Danny—" 

"What about Danny-boy, Jazzie-pants?," Jack asked, having joined them just a moment earlier.

"Uh, well..."

. . .

"Uh, well..." Jazz seemed to be unsure what to say. She was troubled for some reason. 

"Is Danny okay, Jazz?" Maddie asked. 

Her daughter's head snapped back to her. "Yeah— Yeah, he's— upstairs! Don't worry. He just wanted us to tell you something." 

Maddie frowned at that. Why couldn't Danny just tell them himself? "Right, what is it?" 

Jazz seemed nervous, which was a very rare occurrence. If Maddie hadn't been suspicious before, she was now. 

"Do you guys remember when the portal started working?" 

Maddie raised a brow. "Yeah, of course." She glanced at her husband, who just seemed confused. He nodded.

Jazz sighed. "Well, do you remember _why_ it started working?"

Where was this going?

"Danny said he was showing you," Maddie pointed at Sam and Tucker, "our ghost portal and that he noticed a cable was unplugged. He plugged it in and the portal started working." She never understood how they could've overlooked something as simple as that but at least the portal worked now. "Where are you going with this?" 

"Well," Jazz began, "that's not what actually happened." 

_Wh—_

"What do you mean, princess?" Jack's loud, enthusiastic voice resounded next to her.

"Danny didn't plug in any cable." _Oh?_ "He— He, uh, said he went inside and tripped, and he accidentally pushed a button." _The emergency button?!_ "And that's when it turned on." _No._

Maddie's stomach dropped. That couldn't have happened, that was impossible. Her lips felt dry. "Sweetie, are you sure? Danny must be remembering it wrong, there's no way." There was no way he'd have survived this! The wiring inside was still flawed, her son would have been hit by hundreds of volts. It couldn't have happened. 

"Mrs. Fenton, it's true," Sam said. "We were there. We saw that." 

Maddie exchanged panicked glances with Jack. He must've realized the same thing. 

She put on a fake smile, straining her voice in order not to reveal the dread she felt. "No, that's— Danny would have been hit by a constant current. Kids, something like this would be deadly."

The three of them all looked inbetween each other. Tucker bit his lip. "Mrs. F, about that— Well—"

"Danny _was_ electrocuted," Sam admitted. "He was— screaming, for so long, and— and there was this bright green light, and then— he managed to stumble out of the portal."

_What?!_

Maddie covered her mouth, open in shock. "He got hurt and he never told us?! How did we—" Her eyes glanced at the door to her son's room upstairs, and then rested on her husband's similarly worried face. "How did we miss that?"

"Did Danny hide that from us because he thought we would be mad?" Jack asked with a sad voice. 

"No, I mean, _yes_ ," Tucker said, correcting his glasses. "He did hide it from you but not cuz he was hurt. He hid it cuz he was— changed."

_Changed?_

She furrowed her eyebrows. "What does that mean?" 

"Mom, dad, do you remember how, after the accident, some of your inventions started picking up ghost activity in Danny's presence? And how the boomerang locked onto him?" 

Maddie's eyes widened. "Did the portal ecto-contaminate him this much?" Ecto-contamination was treatable but— after this long?

"Right, it's... a little more than that." Tucker clasped his hands together.

"When Danny got hit by electricity and the ectoplasm from the portal at once, it kind of—" Sam seemed to struggle to find the right words. "Well, it mutated him, maybe? It changed his DNA."

Maddie could've sworn the temperature dropped at the moment but that was probably just her nerves. "Mutated?" 

"Yes, we're guessing ectoplasm literally merged with his cells." 

"That's not possible," Maddie whispered with horror.

"Yeah, it is. It happened to Danny."

"But how—"

"Mom, dad, please don't freak out now but this is important." Jazz inhaled deeply. "Danny's a ghost." 

Maddie's knees almost gave in under her but she managed to regain her balance in time. _A what?!_

"Ghost?!" Jack screamed.

Her son had died. Her son had— died in that portal and they hadn't noticed. 

"Danny's dead?"

The three teenagers seemed startled at that, their eyes widening. Sam cleared her throat, regaining her composure. "Well, uh— No, Danny... didn't die in the portal. He became what other ghosts call a 'halfa,' a half-ghost."

"Half... ghost? How?" 

"He basically gained ghost powers," Tucker said, shrugging. "He, you know, would randomly go invisible, or start sinking through the floor, or drop things through his hands all the time. Stuff like that."

How was that even possible? Being a half-ghost, it... wasn't something that made any sense. Ghosts were organisms created postmortem; they were echoes, or modified copies, of their original human forms that had existed before their deaths. So, how could someone show characteristics of both being alive and being dead, at the same time?

Basically, Maddie felt like she'd failed as a mother, and a supposedly-observant scientist. Her baby had been struggling so much, and yet— Had he even known what had been happening to him? Would _she_ have known?

"Why didn't he tell us? Why didn't he tell us, we could've helped him somehow."

"He was afraid, Mrs. F."

 _Afraid?_ Of them?

She looked in the direction of her son's room. "Is that why he didn't want to tell us himself? Because he's scared we'll hurt him?" 

They seemed to ponder the answer. Sam hummed. "Well, yes and no. He was worried you'd hurt him, cuz trust me, you would if he were to just try to tell you all that himself, but not because of what you know so far, but because of what he looks like right now."

_What he looks like...?_

"What does he look like?"

"Mom, Danny has something that he calls a ghost mode—"

"Form."

"A ghost form. He can transform into a ghost, and he looks, uh— different, then."

Maddie blinked. "So he's either fully human or fully ghost? Is he conscious when he's a ghost? Aware of his actions?" She really hoped her son wasn't just flying around terrorizing people, or waking up somewhere in confusion, unsure of what he'd done. 

"What— Yeah, he's conscious, it's all him. The only difference inbetween his forms, really, is his appearance and the power level," Tucker said.

 _Power level..._ Her son had a power level. 

"Still, I think we'd recognize our own son, even if he looked like a ghost." 

Tucker and Sam snorted. "Not really."

Maddie cocked an eyebrow in confusion. Jack seemed equally lost.

"You guys have both seen him in his ghost form. I mean, you've talked to him multiple times. You bump onto him on a daily basis."

She blinked. "You're saying we've talked to our _son_ , face to face, and didn't know it was him?"

"Precisely."

"Impossible! Jack Fenton would know his family anywhere!" He yelled out triumphantly.

Jazz hummed. "Mom, dad, think about it. Can you think of any ghost teenage boys you meet on a daily basis?" 

_Ghost teenage boys..._

"I— I don't—" Were there any ghost teenage boys she saw everyday? There was this... boy on a motorbike. She was certain that wasn't Danny, though, and also she'd seen him no more than two times and neither her nor Jack had ever talked to him. There were also shapeless blob ghosts but those probably wouldn't count as "ghost teenage boys." There was also Phantom but— 

Danny Phantom. That was the ghost boy's full name. People barely used it nowadays but she remembered clearly, he had first introduced himself as _Danny_ Phantom.

No.

Maddie paled. "You don't mean..." She looked at her husband but he was just staring back at her, still as confused as before. She averted her gaze to her daughter and Danny's best friends. "Danny... Phantom?" 

Jazz exhaled, a small smile forming on her face. "Yeah."

_No._

They had been... hunting their own son. Her and Jack, they'd threatened him. They would often tell Danny what kind of things they were going to do to Phantom had they ever captured him. They'd been calling Phantom a menace, an ectoplasmic scum, saying he was evil. _Straight to his face._

Jack shook his head rapidly. "Danny-boy is Phantom? How?!"

Sam crossed her arms and glared. "He's always been Phantom. He got those ghost powers and decided to do something good with them. Not that you ever saw that." 

Guilt tightened Maddie's heart again. She sighed. They really hadn't been the best parents. "Can we talk to him?" 

Sam and Tucker jumped to block the stairs. "Only if you promise you won't hurt him in any way or do anything rash," Jazz said, sternly.

"Of course not! We would never want to hurt our Dann-o!" 

"Jazz, please, you know we won't," Maddie pleaded. 

Her daughter seemed to be pondering something in her mind, eyebrows drawn together, when suddenly her face relaxed. She looked at Sam and Tucker, who both nodded, and finally smiled. "Fine. Danny, show yourself."

A second after Jazz had said that, _Phantom_ materialized next to her. Danny. "Uh. Hi."

Maddie stood, gaping at him in shock. _He was here the whole time?_

She blinked. "Danny, we—" 

"It's okay," he said, raising his hands in a peaceful manner, his voice echoing. "I know you guys meant well and you didn't know it was me so..." He rubbed the back of his neck. Such a Danny gesture. 

Now that she was actually attentively looking at him, she was embarrassed they had never seen the similarities before. His face, his silhouette, his haircut, even his voice— It was all so _him_. He was slightly slouching, too, (a contrast to Phantom's usual confident posture) and he wasn't wearing his signature jumpsuit. He looked completely identical to her boy; to himself. She felt tears pricking in her eyes, threatening to fall. To think she'd used to look at her own boy with such hatred, with intention to... to...

"Oh, sweetie..." She reached out to him, her heart aching at the sight of him jerking away at the movement, and delicately put her hand on his cheek. He looked so bashful and apprehensive, eyebrows raised in worry, and yet so indomitable, his luminescent green eyes glistening with power. "I'm so sorry, Danny."

He smiled. "Really, it's okay. I don't blame you guys, for anything." 

"Danny!" Jack exclaimed way too enthusiastically, sweeping their son into his arms. "I am so proud of you, my boy!" 

Danny seemed frozen in his dad's grip for a second but then relaxed as soon as he realized that hadn't been an attack. 

Maddie joined the family hug, ignoring how cold her son was. "I am, too. Sorry we never noticed, that was— We've been really inattentive as parents." Danny hummed in agreement. "But we're going to change this from now on, promise."

Their ghostly son laughed in their embrace. "Thanks. That— That whole thing went much better than I'd thought it would, actually. So I'm positively surprised already."

She didn't even want to imagine what kinda scenarios of this reveal her son had thought of. Scary ones, probably. She couldn't blame him.

They were standing there, holding onto each other. Uneven breathing was the only sound accompanying the complete silence. Suddenly, the air started warming up somewhat, and Maddie was pretty sure she knew who the culprit for the sudden temperature changes was now. She looked down at her son and saw him smiling, eyes closed. He finally looked happy; felt safe in his house for the first time in... a long time, she guessed.

"We love you so much, Danny."

He sighed, softly. "I love you, too."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woo! So, a PART of a cat sure is out of the bag but, Danny, think you still left out a rather.. significant part of the reveal there, huh? Wonder how that'll go lmao


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Update time!

They had accepted him. 

They had accepted him, _apologized_ to him, and were now hugging him. There hadn't even been any questioning the truth or— or accusing him of trying to trick them, or bringing up Phantom's misdeeds, or anything else Danny had expected. It was... surprising. Surprisingly nice.

There was still one thing he had to confess to them, though. And he wasn't sure how they would react to _that_.

Danny went intangible, slipping away from the embrace. His parents' eyes widened for a split second, probably after witnessing their son manifesting ghost powers right in front of them. Right, they'd seen Phantom using them all the time but it was probably different to see him doing that while _knowing_ he was their son. Oh, well. 

"Actually, there's— one more thing I have to tell you." The sentence caught his folks' full attention as they were now listening closely to what he was saying. Danny sighed. "So, Sam mentioned I was a half-ghost, right?" 

His mom smiled with a slight grimace on her face. "Yes, sweetie. Although I must admit, I have no idea what it means or how that's possible." 

Danny cleared his throat. "Right. So, basically, a half-ghost is still human, in some way." He clasped his hands together. "You get all the living characteristics; you know, having physical needs, having a heartbeat, having a _body_... but you also get ghost powers. Except, you also, like—" How the hell was he going to explain that if he didn't even know how all the specifics worked _himself_? "Well, you're a ghost. You have all powers and abilities that most ghosts have, if not more. But there are things you're limited to because you're a halfa as well as things only you _can_ do because you're a halfa."

They nodded. 

"But— Ugh! Anyway, that's not the point. And this info isn't really gonna be useful anymore, to be honest. The point is, well... the recent change of my halfa status."

If they hadn't been confused before, they definitely were _now_. "Change of your halfa status?" 

Danny cleared his throat. "Well, I— ran into Guys in White earlier today, and uh— That's kinda the reason why I had to tell you my secret tonight."

His parents were looking at him, frowning with puzzlement. 

"Well, I don't— I won't be able to look human anymore. At all."

"Sweetie," his mom began, cocking her eyebrow, "I'm afraid you need to explain further." 

Danny's (unnecessary) breath shuddered. 

He felt an encouraging warm hand on his back, and turned around to see the comforting smiles of his sister and friends. Right, he could do this. He'd done it two times since the evening had started already; what's one more? He smiled back at them, and turned back to face his parents.

"Long story short, I'm— not a half-ghost anymore. Just a ghost." He rubbed the back of his neck, groaning. "I, uh— died completely."

Looking at his parents, Danny really wished he could've read other people's minds at the moment. They were staring at him, jaws loose, eyes watered slightly, processing the information.

His mom covered her mouth with a shaking hand. "How did that happen?" Her quiet voice wavered, as if on the edge of breaking.

"Uh— The GiW surrounded and shot at me and, well, here I am."

A heavy silence encompassed the room, so much that one could've probably heard a pin drop. 

Maddie folded her hands into fists by her hips, brows furrowed. "The Guys in White did this? They... killed you?" She whispered the last part, and then looked straight into Danny's eyes. Her face was twisted in rage but, hidden behind it, there was grief.

Danny grimaced. He didn't want them to get sad. Although, he supposed they would anyway, because, well, they'd just found out their child had died. Nevertheless, he didn't _want_ them to, so... "Just the remaining half! The other was already dead." He laughed and shrugged. "No biggie, you know."

"Ah, Danny," Jack said, uncharacteristically quiet, face blank. If he was aware of the tear running down his cheek, he didn't show it in any way. "So you're a— a full ghost now? You're..."

"Yup!" Danny rubbed the back of his neck nervously. Then, his eyes widened in realization. "But I'm still me! Promise! I— I'm still the same Danny. Nothing changed!" 

Shit, what if they would have had accepted him as a half-ghost/half-human, but not so much as a simple ghost? They could've thought that, since his human part was dead, he really _wasn't_ himself anymore. Danny shivered in fear. He really hoped they weren't thinking that. 

"I swear I don't— think in any weird obsessive, evil way now that I'm not human anymore, I— I just— Nothing's changed, for real."

His parents looked horrified.

"Danny, we would never," Maddie whispered, shaken. "We know it's you. You're our boy and not even—" She swallowed and wet her lips, as if having to force herself to continue. "Not even death is gonna change that." She was smiling at him now and, even if it looked strained and unnatural, Danny felt his own lips' corners slowly going up as well.

"Thanks, mom."

Maddie sighed then and put her hand on his arm, squeezing it. It was probably meant to be a comforting gesture but Danny didn't miss the way her hand hesitated upon touching his cold skin. "But are you... What am I saying? Of course you're not okay. How are you feeling about this?"

Danny swallowed. Did his mom _really_ have to obtain emotional intelligence right when he didn't want to talk about this kinda stuff?! "I am okay, actually! It's— It's all cool!" He phased out of her grip. "I mean, as long as you guys don't— _mind_ it, I guess, then I'll— uh, manage."

His parents were observing him and never before had Danny been as aware of his unearthly glow as he was now; or the ectoplasm in his veins, or the unnatural temperature of his skin, or—

"That's... good to hear, sweetie. However," her brows furrowed in anger, once again, "I am _not_ going to let the GiW get away with this!"

"That's right, Mads!" Jack's loud voice boomed. It was baffling how quickly his dad's mood could apparently just bounce back. "When I get my hands on these white-wearing varmints, they'll get to know how these fists taste!"

Ah, crud.

_Go back to sadness. Go back to sadness._

"We're going to go and talk to someone in charge and we'll make sure _all_ of the responsible agents answer for killing a child," Maddie said.

Danny started massaging his temples. 

He sighed loudly. _Now_ they were concerned about his health and safety. "Guys— Guys, please. You can't just go to a government agency, who specializes in catching ghosts, guns blazing, and persecute them for _killing a well-known ghost_." He huffed, crossing his arms. "Especially since you'd be revealing my secret identity in the process. And that's— a bad idea for so many reasons." 

They blinked. 

"Sweetie, don't they already know your identity, though? They caught you."

Danny grimaced. "They didn't... _catch_ me. They just shot me and then lost the sight of me as I was—" _Bleeding out._ "Uh— They didn't see my human form or anything."

"But you... don't have a secret identity anymore, Dann-o. Unless I'm missing something here." His dad scratched his head. "And we can't just watch them not face any consequences, son!"

"Uh, first of all, I _do_ still have a secret identity, I just... can't transform to look like it." Danny thought the carpet was looking particularly interesting at the moment. The walls, too. "But if the GiW knew Danny Phantom was Danny _Fenton_ , that'd be... so very bad. Because for one, they'd know you're my family and it's never good when your enemies know who your family is. Leverage and all. And, two, the whole public would know, that I'm Phantom _and_ that I'm dead! Like, I couldn't even go to school anymore." 

Everyone was staring at him in confusion. Had he said something weird? "What?"

Jazz stepped out, biting her lip. "Danny, you're not seriously planning on going to school, are you?" 

He blinked. "Uh— Of course I am, why?"

"Well—" Jazz took him in. She hummed, gesticulating with her hand. "I mean— Your look. And... You know."

He cocked an eyebrow. "I'm sure Sam and Tucker will think of something. Right?" Danny said, having looked in his friends' direction. "I mean, we _have_ disguised you guys as me already. Disguising _me_ as me has gotta be easier."

Sam and Tucker looked, well, sceptical at the least. 

"Dude, we might disguise _some_ of you but not sure what the heck could be done 'bout the ghost stuff." Tucker pointed out. "I mean, voice? Glow? Eyes? Yeesh."

Danny groaned. Well, they _were_ technically right but he didn't want to just— give up! He didn't want to completely lose his life, even if he _had_ lost his life, quite literally. What even were his other options? Sitting around in his room all day? Living in the _Ghost Zone_? He hated that place. It was empty and dark, and hostile, and just... sad. Depressing. Full of _dead people_. He didn't want to be one of the myriads of the dead people there. If he had any other choice, he would take it.

"Well," his mom began, humming, "I suppose Jack and I could try to make something that would block out the ghost characteristics. Would that even be possible?" She turned to her husband.

Jack put a hand on his jaw, distant look in his eyes. He looked up with a forced smile present on his face. "No harm in trying, Mads! After all, a Fenton can do anything!"

Danny grinned. "Seriously?! You guys would do that?"

His mom smiled and nodded. "We might try to come up with something in the lab overnight. It would be different than what we usually work on; something that _helps_ ghosts blend in with humans..." She tapped her chin, thoughtful. "Now, that would require a very unconventional approach. But it seems _possible_." 

He beamed with excitement. Maybe normalcy _was_ possible then, even in death! "That sounds great! So the ghostly problems are gonna be dealt with and _you_ —" He turned towards his friends in a fast, gravity-defying twirl, and pointed at them. "—get a disguise and props."

Sam smirked. "Oh, will do."

There was a plan! He was going to continue living his life as if nothing had happened. It could work. He could just fully ignore all of the events that had occured earlier, with no repercussions whatsoever. Right, it could _work_!

Maddie sighed loudly, massaging her temples.

"Right. Kids... It is late and it's a school day so if everything is sorted out," Maddie clasped her hands together, "then it's time to go home and go to beds! I'm sure your parents are worried."

_Already? Seriously?!_

Danny whined, throwing his arms out dramatically. "Mom! Come on!" 

"Your mother is right, son, you all should rest!"

"And," she began, "the faster you go to sleep, the faster we will be able to start working on the device."

They really were hastening him to go to bed, after an evening of _so_ many big reveals? He looked at his friends. Okay, they seemed to be annoyed by the command as well but, _boy_ , did they look worn out! Danny hissed through his teeth. 

"Fine." Danny crossed his arms. "But don't you guys have... more questions? And stuff?"

His dad moved a massive hand to ruffle his white hair playfully. "We sure do, Danny-boy! But they can wait."

Danny already guessed the next few days would be, well, _full_ of constant questions, anyway. His parents must've been curious about _so_ many things, some probably even inappropriate to ask. But he wanted them to ask, and he wanted to answer. For once in his life since the accident, he felt like he could be fully honest with his parents; no secrets, no sneaking out, no dual life. It all seemed almost unbelievable, after years of stress and worries. He almost regretted he hadn't told them sooner. Before he— Well, before _that_ happened.

After a few more moments of chatting, Sam and Tucker went to their homes, having said goodbyes to everyone. They'd also made it clear that if absolutely _anything_ happened, Danny was supposed to call them immediately. Wow, he loved his friends.

Mom and dad, surprisingly, had not much to say after that. They wished Danny and Jazz a good night and went down to the lab, in order to work on the device for him. 

Jazz _had_ a talk with Danny, though, which he'd definitely expected. It was about psychology, so-called well-being of his mental state, and all that shit. _Ugh_. He barely listened. He didn't want to have this kind of talks with her; or _anyone_ , for that matter.

Finally, they parted ways and he was free to go to his room, left to be alone with his thoughts. He changed into his pajamas and laid down on the bed, reminiscing about all the events that had happened in just one evening. Feeling no rhythmic pulsing inside of him anymore. Looking at the ceiling, at the glow-in-the-dark stars.

. . .

Danny yawned loudly, his voice echoing, as he walked downstairs. 

Somehow, he had _slept_.

As a full ghost, he didn't really _need_ to sleep anymore, he'd discovered. It was probably the same with eating because he was not hungry still. However, he could _choose_ to sleep (and eat, most likely) if he wanted to, and that was... nice; made him feel human again. 

His dad was sitting by the kitchen table and, right as Danny came in, his head snapped up in alarm. A moment later, recognition crossed his features and he smiled, looking bashful.

Right, it was to be expected that it would take some time before Danny's ghostly appearance stopped startling his parents. Jack was still not used to his son looking like (and _being_ ) Phantom, after all. 

What he _was_ used to, though, was Danny's favorite space-themed pajamas, which he was wearing now, and his messy bedhead.

"Mornin', son! Did you sleep?"

"Hey, dad." Danny put his hand through the cabinet door and pulled out a bag of powdered hot chocolate. "Yup, sure did! Didn't really need to but there wasn't much to do at night so— Yeah." Having heated up some milk, he proceeded to mix it with the powder in his favorite mug, adding some sugar at the end. _Perfect_. He sat down by the table, opposite to his father, and started sipping from his mug. 

"Danny-boy, are you drinking?" His dad asked, looking at him in confusion.

"Uh," he cocked an eyebrow, "yeah. Hot chocolate. Why?"

"Oh— No reason, son, just didn't think you would do that anymore! Sorry."

Danny laughed. "Don't worry, I— still gotta figure out the basics myself." Shrugging, "but I like hot chocolate so why not?" 

His dad beamed. "Good thinking, son! I'm drinking _coffee_!"

Danny laughed. Wow, he felt so... _carefree_ ; it was almost weird. He couldn't remember the last time he could've been so open with his father; it'd been most likely way before the portal accident. Now, though, he had no life-threatening secrets to hide anymore, and he could just... relax. It was nice.

He took another sip from his drink. "So, where's mom?"

"Ah! She's in the lab, still working on the device!" Jack pointed at the basement door enthusiastically. "It still needs some twitching done but from what we'd calculated, it should work! Somewhat. Hm... Well, we haven't had the chance to _test_ it anyhow." He scratched his chin in puzzlement, as if pondering something. Then, he grinned again, all worries seemingly forgotten. "Oh, and your sister's gone to school already!" 

Danny nodded. Jazz had told him that she was going to go to school earlier that day. "Cool, cool." 

He tapped his fingers on the table. If all went according to the plan, he was going to be in school in less than an hour; for the first time since he'd died. Saying he was stressed would've been an _understatement_. 

He hoped it would go well but there were _so many_ ways that day could go wrong. The device, assuming it was going to work in the first place, could break down at any time and show him in all of his ghostly glory. Or he could do something extremely stupid, like stripping down some important part of his disguise or forgetting not to float, revealing himself to the whole school in the process. Heck, the disguise could not fool anyone in the first place! He would get to school, acting as if nothing had happened, and everyone would be wondering why the hell _Phantom_ was there and acted like Fenton.

But he tried to stay positive. The disguise would work and the day would come and go without _any_ trouble whatsoever.

"So... What's it like?"

Danny blinked. Huh? "What's it like having ghost powers? Or, uh, being a ghost?" 

His dad looked sheepish at that, as if he wasn't even sure whether the question was appropriate to ask. It was odd, seeing him as anything but loud and excited; not just rambling about tearing ghosts apart. "Both?"

Danny sipped from his mug, pondering the question. "I guess... Well, honestly, I've had ghost powers for, like, three years now so I'm kinda used to them. It's like second nature to me. See?" He demonstrated, creating a small ball of ectoplasm over his palm, which he extinguished a moment later. "Really, it was harder to _hide_ my powers because using them comes so naturally to me."

Jack nodded, his expression neutral.

"Although, it was—" Danny laughed. "It definitely felt weird at first, right after the accident." He rhythmically tapped his fingers on the table. "Like, just accidentally sinking through everything was _odd_. And randomly becoming invisible. It was like at one moment everything was normal and then suddenly I'd get this tingling feeling and _bam_ , my legs would be inside the floor." He snorted. 

His dad grimaced, setting his cup of coffee down on the table. "Son... Why didn't you tell us?" 

"Uh—"

"Not... that you're Phantom. That I get." He exhaled, tiredly, probably still blaming himself. His sad eyes met Danny's. "But why didn't you tell us about your accident? Or when the ghost stuff started? Danny-boy, you know we'd never hurt you."

"Hah, I mean, you did multiple times." The joke fell flat. Danny guessed, by his father's sudden jolt, that it didn't even come off as a joke. Oops. Shit. "Uh— Well, I guess— I came out of the portal already looking like this," he gestured at himself, "and I knew what you guys always said about ghosts so I just... hid it. You know." He shrugged.

None of them had to give any examples as to what had been said about ghosts. Both knew very well. 

_"Danny, remember, ghosts are just ectoplasm. They're merely the remaining residue of human postmortem consciousness. Don't feel bad for them, they're not_ people _."_

_"Ah, my boy, ghosts are evil! If we ever see one, we won't hesitate to take a shot at it. That's exactly why we have all kinds of anti-spectral weapons in our possession! Safety!"_

_"Ghosts don't feel, sweetie. They don't have a nervous system so there's no way pain could even register. We haven't gotten our hands on any yet but when we do, it won't be immoral to check how its anatomy works."_

Danny shuddered at the memory. _Yeah, wonder why I never told you guys. A real shocker._

"Danny-boy, I just want you to know—" He looked up at the sound of his dad's voice. "I'm not the best with words but we were wrong and we're really sorry, your mom and I. For... everything." 

He smiled. "Yeah, I know. And I really mean it when I say I don't blame you." Did he, though? "Like, I guess, it did hurt me when you were... shooting at me and insulting me, and not believing me, and stuff," Danny mumbled. "But also you didn't know it was _me_. Like, it doesn't... _justify_ it, but you didn't know you were shooting at your son so... I don't want you guys beating yourselves up because of it. Or feeling guilty, or something." 

Was he blaming them? Kind of. Not really. _It's complicated._

They hadn't known they'd been shooting at their son; that Phantom was _him_. So he understood. However, he'd still been on the receiving end of all that, had been threatened by his parents multiple times. That had to have some kind of long-lasting psychological impact, right? Jazz would've probably said something like that. But Danny just wanted to ignore those bad experiences and, well, pretend everything was normal. After all, what had happened, had happened, so why bother bringing it up? It wasn't like it'd have changed anything. Now, Jazz would've probably said he wasn't letting his feelings out again and that it was unhealthy. He sighed.

"Danny—"

"Just," he began. "Why _didn't_ you believe me?" 

His dad seemed confused at that. "What?" 

"Why didn't you believe me, as Phantom, when I was telling you I just wanted to help people? To protect the town? You never believed me!" He _was_ getting upset now. "I was... trying to do the good thing. Technically, I was following in your footsteps, hunting ghosts." _Wait. Stop, stop, stop._ He hadn't wanted to share any of that but now that his voice had started wavering, he just couldn't stop voicing his thoughts. "You believe me now but when you didn't know it was _me_ , you treated Phantom as just another bad ghost to hunt, to get rid of. That was... That didn't feel good." Where was he even going with this? "I guess, what I mean to say is, why did you start believing me only when you found out? Why couldn't you stomach the idea that _maybe_ ghosts can just be good, on their own? Like, I really don't blame you for what happened in the past but do you think I'm good now only because I'm your son? You said you were _proud_ of me. _Why?_ "

Jack stared at him, dumbfounded. "I— I'm—" He stuttered, then cleared his throat and tried again. "You're right."

Danny blinked. Huh?

"We never saw Phantom for who he— for who _you_ really were. We didn't want our theories to be wrong! So we chose to completely ignore how much you've helped everyone, Danny-boy." He sighed. "I think I now know you couldn't have done anything evil cuz I know you, son, so I trust you. But you're right, we were... slightly ignorant all this time."

 _Just like that?_ Danny stared at his father. "So... you're going to try and actually listen to what other ghosts have to say before you hunt them?" He asked, carefully.

"I—"

"Because not all of them— us, I guess— are bad. Ghosts are just like people, with all kinds of different personalities! The ones who want to, you know, take over the world are... just the most annoying and active ones. But I've met many ghosts who've helped me, who are just as good as me."

His dad seemed to be pondering something in his head, eyebrows scrunched together. "Dann-o, ghosts... Most ghosts are dangerous. We can't just let them roam free in the wild. Are you sure this is a good idea?"

Danny groaned with irritation. "I'm not saying you should just let _all_ ghosts do what they want. Like— Ugh, I mean, I fight ghosts and I _am_ one. And when I first became a half-ghost, I also always punched first, asked questions later." He sighed. "And that was a mistake. So, I just want you to give them a chance, to not assume that any random ghost you meet is gonna want to wreak havoc. You know?"

Jack was looking at him with wonder and indecision on his face, and then finally smiled. "Fine. You got it, Dann-o!" 

Danny spluttered in shock. "Wait, really?" The pure hatred and fear of ghosts that he'd had to unlearn when he'd stopped being human... had been a lot. All of his life his parents had kept telling him how evil ghosts were and then _he_ had become one. Getting rid of that instinct, of the urge to think negatively about all ghosts, himself included, had taken time, but it had been worth it. To think that his parents were now willing to do the same...

"Yeah! We want to listen to you as much as we can! After all, turns out _you're_ the actual ghost expert in this house, not us," his dad chuckled. "And we want you to feel comfortable, and safe at home. So, we're gonna try to give ghosts a chance; stop with the assumptions."

He smiled widely and felt his core humming happily in his chest. "Whoa... Thanks, dad."

He took another sip from his mug. Was he just so used to daily major inconveniences that when everything was actually going well, he felt like that could change any moment? Probably. Yes. Indeed. Well, Danny _supposed_ him being dead counted as a major inconvenience. Everything after that went weirdly... positive, though. Maybe he had drained his weekly amount of bad luck already, on the day before. He snorted at the thought.

"Okay, Jack, I re-checked everything and it should— Oh. Hello, Danny," his mom said, coming out of the basement. She looked surprised to see him there but quickly went over to the kitchen table anyway, setting down some kinda electronic device she had been holding, and hesitantly ruffled his white hair.

Danny groaned, ruffling up his hair on his own. He liked it messy but it had to be a _specific_ mess. "Hi, mom."

"Are you... drinking coffee, sweetie?"

He looked down at the mug, and back at his mom. "Hot chocolate."

She hummed. She'd probably also thought he wouldn't be drinking stuff anymore. "Well— Good you're here, actually, cuz I have something you'd most likely want to see."

He quirked an eyebrow. 

"This," she picked up the device, "is the Fenton de-ghosting disguise bracelet—"

"Name courtesy of me!"

"And it _should_ mask your glow as well as the echo in your voice. And if my calculations are correct, maybe even your eco-signature as a whole."

Danny perked up at that. "For real?" 

Maddie nodded with a smile. "Wanna try it on?"

"Yeah!" He stood up and went over to where his mom was standing. "So how's it work?"

"As long as you have it on yourself, you should be able to just activate it by turning the switch," she pointed at it, "and then it should manifest an energy-dampener of sorts. It's powered by ectoplasm so it shouldn't ever run out of energy. That's the overall idea, at least."

Danny knew his parents' inventions didn't always work the way they'd been intended to so there was always some risk in using it on himself but, well, he was willing to try. 

He put the bracelet on. "Okay, here goes nothing," he said, switching it on, and— He didn't feel any different. "Did— Did it work?" 

_Hang on..._

His _voice_.

Danny looked at his parents, and sure enough, they were grinning proudly. "Looks like it works just right, son!" Jack exclaimed. 

"Cool!" His voice wasn't echoing anymore and, when he looked down at himself, his form wasn't glowing, too. Out of curiosity, he tried making his hand transparent and, having succeeded, he let go of the partial invisibility, satisfied. The bracelet didn't dampen his powers then; good.

His mom sighed, which caught Danny's attention. She was smiling at him with concern. "Are you sure you want to go to school today, Danny? I mean, it's only been a day... It just seems so risky. Also, _should_ you even still be going to school? No other— ghosts try to live their lives."

Danny snorted. "No other ghosts have had the experience of being ghosts _while_ still being alive. Plus, none of them live in the human world, _or_ with their alive family members." He smirked cheekily. "Think I'm special like that." 

Normally, he would never miss out on an opportunity to ditch school, despite almost failing multiple subjects and having many problems with attendance. This time, however, he kind of wanted to prove to himself that he still _could_ easily blend in with humans and continue his existence under his old routine.

He rubbed the back of his neck. "Also, uh, Sam and Tucker are coming over to help me prepare my disguise for school in, like, a few minutes." _You know, normal teenager things_. "No backin' out now!" Danny laughed nervously. 

His parents grimaced. "If you say so..." 

He nodded awkwardly, pointing in the direction of his room. "So, I'll just— Uh, go prepare." He was about to walk up the stairs like a normal person but then realized that, _wait_ , he didn't have to _hide_ anymore. Jazz had said that it'd be good to show off his powers more to make their parents accustomed to them. Guess he was going to do just that.

He rose high into the air, ignoring his folks' shocked looks, and slowly disappeared through the ceiling.

For this day, Danny chose baggy jeans, the same sneakers from the night before, a random red zip-up hoodie, and a white t-shirt with a small little green ghost on it. He snickered to himself. _Theme on point_. He also put his HAZMAT suit in his backpack, so that he could fight ghosts had there been the need.

Right after Danny had finished tying his shoelaces, there was a loud knock on the door. He flew over to open it and—

"Sam, Tucker, hey!" He greeted his friends as they came into the bedroom, closing the door after. "My folks let you in?"

"Yeah and _whoa_ , okay, guess they made the device! You look simultaneously like Danny Fenton in a wig _and_ what people would probably imagine Danny Phantom looked like before became a ghost," Sam snickered, sitting down on Danny's bed. 

"Yup," he said, popping the _p_. He'd seen himself in the mirror and, indeed, he looked so... human. Even more like himself than the day before. Even his eyes weren't glowing as much, they were just— green and, well, still rather flashy, but definitely more human-passing. "They called it the 'Fenton de-ghosting disguise bracelet,'" he said with air quotes, and showed off the device on his wrist. 

Tucker hummed, tapping his chin. "TBH, I have no idea if Danny looking like he's cosplayin' Phantom makes the plan less risky, or _more_ risky."

Danny laughed. "Yeah, I mean, if I get caught I'm _dead_ , and not just literally, but also this kinda makes the plan easier to pull off so hopefully... I just _won't_ get caught." He shrugged.

"Fair enough," Tucker said. "So— Are you ready for the _makeover?_ " He laughed, playfully nudging Danny's shoulder.

Sam smirked as she reached into her backpack and took out a small, safely-packaged bag and a plastic box. "Catch!"

Danny yelped as the thrown items nearly scattered on the floor, just barely caught thanks to his faster-than-average reflexes. He scowled at his friend, because she knew _exactly_ what she was doing, and finally looked down to inspect the contents of packages. 

Just as they'd devised last night, it was a black wig and colored eye contacts. He had no idea how Sam was even _getting_ all this stuff whenever they needed something of sorts but he knew she had her own rich/goth-people methods. "So, um— How do I put these on?" 

"The wig, or the contacts?"

"Uh— Both?" He smiled awkwardly. 

Sam stared at him, unimpressed, and pointed at the door. "Bathroom. Let's go."

. . .

He was staring in the mirror once again, still enamored with how _human_ he could look as a ghost, while Sam and Tucker were, respectively, styling the wig and doing something on a PDA. 

"Okay! I think it's pretty identical to the real deal now," Sam exclaimed, turning around. "Tilt your head and don't move."

Danny did as he was said, and instinctively closed his eyes shut. He felt as a cap slammed over his hair, flattening it, and then as single fingers pushed inside it (sticking the loose hairs inside the wig, he guessed). 

"Damn," he heard Tucker say.

Sam hummed. "Okay, Danny, look."

As if on cue, his eyes snapped open. Holy _shit_.

"I—" He stared at himself. "I look like _me_. It worked." He looked at Sam, squinting. "How did you get my hairstyle?"

Sam smirked. "A goth has her secrets, what can I say?" 

Then, the time to put on the contacts came. Danny recalled doing it, like, once in his life; for a halloween party when he'd been twelve, and he'd _hated_ it. Now, as it turned out, the feeling wasn't any more pleasant than he'd remembered. But he _pushed through_ , and soon enough, Danny Fenton was staring back at him in the mirror, even if with a little sickly tinge to his skin.

"This is nuts," he mumbled.

"Yeah, dude."

"The only problem we still have is the pointy ears but, uh, it's not like we can do anything about them," Sam said, shrugging. "We can honestly just cover them up with hair a little, and that's it. At least fangs don't stick out that much."

Tucker laughed. "This is _Amity Park_ , I doubt they'd notice if Danny came to school _blue_."

"Fair enough," Sam snorted. "So, you ready to do this, Danny?"

He sighed, and stood up slowly. "Yeah. Let's go."

After they came downstairs, Danny's parents were _shocked_ at how normal he looked, and even more so when Sam and Tucker informed them that it was thanks to a wig and some blue contacts. And then, they stepped out, and finally headed towards Casper High.

That was going to be interesting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yup, it's an akward situation when you're a ghost hunter who believes in all this bad stuff about ghosts and then suddenly your SON, whom you love and wanna support, is a ghost. And you obviously refuse to even CONSIDER that all that bad stuff could apply to HIM, too. So damn, do you hypocritically ignore the situation and make your son the one exception to the rule in your mind? Or are you willing to try and change your life-long beliefs, consider that you were wrong about ghosts? Tough decision huh lol
> 
> Anyways, school time! Wonder what could go wrong

**Author's Note:**

> Just so you know, this is uhhh my very first fic, actually! And english isn't my first language sooo yeah. Hopefully it all holds up!
> 
> So if you have any criticism or a piece of advice for me, or enjoyed the fic and want to let me know what you think, please comment! Any feedback, even just kudos or keyboardsmash/emoji comments, will be very much appreciated.
> 
> Thank you so much for reading!!
> 
> Also, I have multiple chapters written out already so expect an update very, very soon! There's a Lot of stuff incoming.


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